Kariakoo Market

I had decided that I should make more use of my balcony which is normally only used by malarial mosquitoes. So I bought some cheap mosquito nets and then headed down to Kariakoo Market. I had seen it on the internet and it looked good.

I wasn’t disappointed. It was not just the central distinctive shaped building – the market was spread over the surrounding streets too. There were hundreds of stalls selling all manner of brightly coloured plastic stuff and second hand clothes and shoes.

The fabric stalls were what I was looking for and I visited half a dozen before I found one which had fabric for £1 per metre. I bought 12 metres and then found a machinist.

I explained that I wanted a 6m x 8m section and he set about sewing and hemming the piece. It took him about 20 minutes and I sat next to him, my back against the wall, hiding from the midday sun in the shade watching the market activity.

I had reached the market on a dala dala public bus which was very cheap but took an hour and I had to stand up for the whole journey. On the way back I thought I’d give the fast buses a try. There is a station called Kariakoo and I waited an age for the number 6 and then had to squeeze on.

Again, it was really cheap but it wasn’t much better than the dala dala and I found that everyone stared at me. I asked a man why everyone was looking at me and he explained that people were surprised that a European was taking public transport. Didn’t I have a car? Why wasn’t I in a taxi?

There is clearly an expectation that non-blacks should be able to afford private transport but I am spending too much money on bajaj and taxis and boda boda. Public transport takes me all the way into town for next to nothing and I can cope with the discomfort if I am not in a hurry. Why not!